Cankers on aspen

2 of my aspen trees are developing oozing cankers - my state ag site says to try fungicide. What type of fungicide should I use? Can anyone offer advice? Thanks -C

I can't tell you about fungicide but my advice is to get rid of the aspen. They only live 15 years on the plains and every one I know has cut theirs down due to some disease. I love them but they really do better up in the mountains. But perhaps someone else will have some advice to get rid of the fungus.

Mobi

Hey Mobi!!

After my recent trip to 'D' and a couple of side trips into the mountains I decided I needed a stand of aspen. Ordered 10 and split with Brugie. Don't they form their colonies by running? If so, maybe the short lifespan won't be so bad. Kind of replenish themselves.

Any more now, I'm thinking I'll be lucky if I see 20 more years so with the aspens, at least I'll get to see some of the trees I've started actually mature. :)

The send up suckers. I don't know how they'll do where you live so you never know. For some reason they don't do very well in the Denver Metro area. In the mountains they live about 50 to 100 years. One hypothesis is that the shorter the growing season the less chance of insect and disease problems. The main problem isn't having them- it's getting rid of them when they die or are sick. I guess I'm not up to taking trees down every couple of years. Fortuntately it's not a major job as with bigger trees. My husband took down three of ours that were diseased in an afternoon all by himself. But they are very pretty and inexpensive.

cchiovitti, Here's some info I found that might be helpful

Wetwood, or Slime Flux
A bacterium (Erwinia nimipressuralis) takes hold in the heartwood and causes abnormally high sap pressure. Fermented sap (or flux) is forced out of wounds or cracks in the tree. The flux is sour-smelling and oozes down the side of tree, causing unsightly gray streaks when dried. The wounds generally will not heal properly and the condition can persist for many years. Although there is no treatment for the disease, the streaking can sometimes be prevented by placing a small tube in the infected area so the flux drips away from the tree.

Canker and Dieback
Canker and dieback on poplars is caused by several different fungi. Lombardy poplars are especially vulnerable. Dark sunken cankers form where the fungus enters a tree through wounds or cracks. These cankers can disrupt water and nutrient flow and, if it spreads to more than half of the diameter of the trunk, will probably kill the tree. Pruning off infected branches and removing severely infected trees can slow or even prevent spread. The best measure is to promote the general health of the tree through regular fertilization and watering.

On a sidenote. There is a aspen colony in Colorado that they consider the largest single living organism on earth.

Thanks, Mobi!
I think one of them may be too far gone to save but I'm going to try with the other one.
I have the aspen stands and some hybrid poplar clones down in my "ditch" where they get a lot of water and are free to sucker and spread as they desire. I grew up in Morrison, near the foothills, and we always had aspen - then I lived in the 'burbs of Thornton and they did really well for me there too. Even if they and the poplars don't live long its OK with me, I get a few good years of beautiful trees out of them, plus other trees wouldn't do too well in that area anyway.

Mine are all well watered and fertilized and otherwise healthy and I don't have insect issues like I did over in Thornton but those 2 trees just have weird issues I guess. The 2 of them are pretty far from each other (separate sides of the property) and the "sores" have formed on the south (downstream) sides of the trunks. The one that's not so bad also has one infected branch - honestly it seems to me like a combination of both canker and slime flux but so far the growth and leafing hasn't been affected, not sure if it would have affected flowers or not though since all my trees are male (out of 3 plantings from different sources) -weird huh? -C

"South side" increases the possiblity of it being winter sun damage. They can be totally dormant and near freezing and the late winter sun heats it up and expands and splits. Maybe the Aspens just dress their wounds with black bandages. I saw a lot of that walking around the stands. I've had a couple of apples do that on the south side.